Friday, September 15, 2017

Many visitors to this blog come to see the posts about dividing polynomials using the grid method (like this one). A while ago, I put up a page which generates examples that (hopefully) illustrate this method.

Well, I am excited to say that the examples page has been enhanced with the addition of a simple calculator, which allows you to provide your own polynomials for dividing.

This is not a sophisticated calculator - the polynomials you provide need to be in expanded form, and they have to be single variable polynomials using "x" for the variable - don't try to be fancy or tricky, please.

For example, you may want to try something like this:

After you provide your polynomials, hitting the calculate button will trigger the parser, that will let you know of any errors. If all goes well, you are prompted to have the calculator show the answer:

If you click the Show Answer button, the answer and the grid used for division is shown.

Finally, clicking on the Show Additional Steps button will walk you through how the grid was filled in to obtain the answer.